


time, mystical time (cutting me open then healing me fine)

by ashlearose13



Series: the delta trilogy [3]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Indie Delta, Multimedia, Oh My God, Rock Star Clint Barton and Pop Princess Natasha Romanov Become, i was never going to write this and yet here we are, im so sorry, this is a mess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:15:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26714338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashlearose13/pseuds/ashlearose13
Summary: Tasha kicked one leg up to rest her foot on the dash, keeping her gaze on him. Her fingers tapped a rhythm against the window that he recognised in the calluses on his hands. He had written the first lyrics to April, Her on his thigh in pen while she sat on the beanbag and plucked the strings of her new ukulele. They hadn’t sung it since. It made Tasha cry.
Relationships: Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov
Series: the delta trilogy [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1919128
Comments: 13
Kudos: 51





	time, mystical time (cutting me open then healing me fine)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [archers_and_spies](https://archiveofourown.org/users/archers_and_spies/gifts).



> okay wow what a ride first of all HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHEREE THIS IS FOR U ❤️✨❤️ i hope u love it and i hope u have a great birthfday ily 🥺🥺
> 
> anyway it was basically cheree who convinced me to write part 3 to this series and here we are. what a ride let me tell u. i hope this does justice to the first two and ties it in all nice idk how to do sentences right now its past midnight. there's actually a tracklist of songs that i made for Serendipity and cheree also WROTE TWO WHOLE SONGS!! (endless stars and april, her and it still blows me away to this dAY HOW TALENTED SHE IS) you get a lil sneak peek of some of the lyrics in the fic but idk maybe we'll post them one day or like. write a part 4 🤡
> 
> i could've done much more with this but i restrained myself bc its gets very confusing but i hope you like it!! 😇😇

The second-hand guitar came with them to Arizona, packed in the back of the car with a single suitcase and Tasha’s worn songbook. Lucky was spread out along the backseat and Clint kept one hand on her thigh as he drove, eyes on the dusty horizon.

“Never been to Arizona,” he said.

Tasha rolled her head around to look at him. “Sure you have.”

Maybe he had. _Lime Cordial_ had taken him halfway around America but he couldn’t pick one city from the next. He enjoyed touring well enough to do it again, and with Tasha by his side it felt a little easier to breathe. She was used to stadiums and technicolour lights. The two of them and his crummy old guitar was new to her, too.

Tasha kicked one leg up to rest her foot on the dash, keeping her gaze on him. Her fingers tapped a rhythm against the window that he recognised in the calluses on his hands. He had written the first lyrics to _April, Her_ on his thigh in pen while she sat on the beanbag and plucked the strings of her new ukulele. They hadn’t sung it since. It made Tasha cry.

“I know that song,” Clint said eventually. He raised an eyebrow at her, gave her thigh a squeeze. “What’re you thinking about?”

She shrugged. Lucky pushed his head onto the centre console, wet nose brushing Clint’s forearm. Bringing the dog on tour hadn’t been his idea but Coulson thought it would work. So far it had, even though they had been driving for five days now, rolling their way lazily towards an arena that would hold 18,000 of their fans on the weekend. _Intimate_ was the word that Coulson had used to describe it.

He could do intimate. He could do him and Tasha on a stage with a couple of instruments and a backdrop that she had filmed on her phone. Delta was more than he had ever expected, and sometime over the last however many months they had entered the kind of high that he had almost reached with _Lime Cordial_. Driving across America unnoticed was something that they could only just get away with, but he liked to test their limits.

“Thinking about the next few months,” Tasha said. “You’re going to get sick of me.”

“Oh yea?” Clint said. “Why’s that?”

“I’m not easy to live with, Clint.”

“Neither am I,” he told her. He knew what she meant, though. That it was different, now; different to the farm and different to the nights in his apartment preceding the album release, when they could escape into a bubble that no one else could touch. “We’re famous, right?”

Tasha rolled her eyes. “That’s what they tell me.”

“Then we don’t have to be easy to live with,” Clint said. He moved his hand to entwine their fingers instead and felt the scars that proved they were the same. “Nothing’s hard when you’re around.”

And if it was one of the cheesiest things he had ever said to her than that was his business. It was worth the smile that lit up her eyes.

Clint sat with his back to the wall, legs stretched out in front of him as he tapped idly at Candy Crush on his phone. Pepper had Tasha in the middle of the room, helping Wanda pull something silky and midnight blue over her mess of curls. He watched the dress fall to the floor in a flourish and gave her a wink when she turned to him.

“Looks good.”

“That’s _all_ you can say?” Wanda asked. She pointed a finger at him and Clint was reminded of his mother a lifetime ago, scolding him for running in the house. “She looks fucking ethereal, Barton.”

Of course she did. Tasha looked good in everything, from tulle princess dresses to jeans that had mud caked down the shins, and she didn’t need him to tell her that. Pepper was taking promotional shots before she was bundled into the car and he didn’t want to get in the way while they added their last-minute touches to her makeup.

“There are teenage girls who would kill you for speaking to him like that,” Pepper said without looking up. “They’re brutal.”

“I know,” Tasha said. She pulled her hair out of its bun and shook it out, fingers carding through the loose curls. “When I posted _the_ Insta photo I got death threats.”

The Instagram photo had caused something of a storm, not that Clint really noticed or cared. He didn’t like using his social media and Tasha was more than happy to run their joint Delta accounts anyway, so he generally let her be and logged into Twitter once in a while to post a picture of his dog. The death threats had been new, though. Coulson had had to make a statement, and Coulson _hated_ making statements.

“It’s because I’m so good looking,” Clint teased. “No one is safe from my charm.”

“I thought I was the good-looking half of Delta?” Tasha pouted.

Pepper took a step back and framed Tasha’s face with her hands. Her camera was expensive and Clint had already clicked too many buttons when she wasn’t looking. He had never seen her work before, though, and he could see why Tasha liked her. Pepper didn’t mess around with making everything perfect because nothing ever _was_ perfect.

“Sure are, sugar,” Clint drawled. He pocketed his phone and let his head fall back against the wall with a thud that he felt down to his toes. “Hey Pep, how do you feel about taking album photos?”

Tasha raised an eyebrow. “Album photos?”

“Yea, you know,” he said with a wave of his hand. “Photos for tour, or something.”

“You’re touring?” Wanda asked.

Clint had forgotten that it was supposed to be a secret. Coulson had made them swear on their lives that they wouldn’t let it leak, not even for the sake of giving some girl on the internet a minute of fame for posting an obscure theory. Tasha liked to interact with the new fans that had emerged from the two of them teaming up, and Clint liked to listen to her laugh as she checked in on their lives every now and then.

“Legally speaking, no,” Tasha said. She accepted a little more highlighter from Pepper and checked over her handiwork in a mirror that Wanda held up to her face, smiling at her reflection. “Clint has a big mouth. Come over here and let me test my no-smudge lipstick.”

“You’re gonna be late,” he warned her.

Tasha met his gaze over the top of the mirror. “The Grammys can wait for one kiss.”

He sent Coulson a heads-up text even as he stood up to meet her halfway. The lipstick tasted of cherries and vanilla. The dress felt like velvet against his skin.

t is gonna be late

not very late but

im helping test the no smudge lipstick coulson its very important

**stream serendipity** @natclint

its so weird to see Natalia w/out clint like,,, they DID just release an album right??

> **E! News** @enews
> 
> All the Winners and Losers of the 61st Grammy Awards. e.onli.ne/531km1

**cheree** @romanoffsbarton

SHE LOOKS GORGEOUSSEHKFJEF PLSSS MAAM

> **E! News** @enews
> 
> Natalia Flies Solo on the Grammys Red Carpet!

Clint hated talk shows almost as much as he hated reading articles online, but Coulson had booked them in for a slot on Jimmy Kimmel and the least he could do was smile and pretend to enjoy himself for the sake of his manager’s sanity.

The dressing room had fresh pizza and a box of donuts with tiny pink sprinkles, and he sat himself on the couch to catch the last few minutes of _Dog Cops_ before they were due on. Tasha’s hair was pulled into a high ponytail that he knew would be tugging at her temples. She gave him a lopsided smile as she clipped her microphone to her shirt and he smiled back, feeling his nerves dissipate in the face of her confidence.

It had been a while since he had been on a talk show. They had already put it off for three months following the album release, and Coulson was getting tired of fielding calls. Clint forgot how blinding the lights were and how loud the audience was, and he instinctively followed Tasha out to the stage until he could take a seat beside her and draw a breath. He waved and someone screamed. Coulson would be happy.

“Welcome, welcome, thank you for coming,” Kimmel said. “Look at you two! This is your first interview after the album, right?”

“Yes,” Tasha said sweetly. She had been doing this for longer than Clint had even _had_ his career and it showed in the corners of her smile. “Lucky you!”

“Lucky me!” Kimmel echoed. He pulled out a blown-up image of the album cover and there was another round of excited screaming. Clint had seen the cover more times than anyone but it still sent a jolt right through the centre of him. “Let me read you some reviews on the new album, just to embarrass you.”

Tasha’s grin faltered just slightly. “Oh.”

“Rolling Stones said ‘ _Serendipity_ is exactly what the music industry has been lacking’. TIME Magazine said ‘Natalia leaves behind her pop-princess roots to join forces with Clint Barton and his guitar in a move that should have ended her career, and instead we are given _Serendipity_ : a sweater-weather indie album released on a whim from the unlikeliest of partners. Textural and tastefully nostalgic, it is aiming somewhere higher than even the most renowned artists are aspiring to’. So –”

The applause briefly shocked Clint, but screaming teenagers had become something of a second-nature to him by now and he was adept at blocking it out. He looked at Tasha and she looked right back, the brief flash of panic that had settled on her face melting into a soft smile. She leant back in her chair and crossed her ankles, and he thought to himself, _breathe_.

“Wow,” Tasha said. “That’s one way to start a show.”

Clint shrugged. “People say stuff like that and I don’t… What are you supposed to say?”

“Thank you doesn’t seem to cut it,” Tasha agreed. “We kind of lose control of the way we react.”

“Do you still get excited?” Kimmel asked. “Even though it’s been a few months now, right? Or does it all just blend –”

“I cry,” Tasha interrupted. There was a smattering of laughter and she waved it off, leaning forward again. “No, really. Even if it’s all good. I just cry.”

“It all feels surreal,” Clint added. “We just made this little album and didn’t expect for it to turn into _this_.”

“And it’s all very personal, isn’t it?” Kimmel said. He wiggled the album cover and pointed to their just-touching fingers, giving them a pointed look. “When did _that_ happen?”

“When did what happen?”

Tasha liked to play coy, partially for the fun of it but mainly because they hadn’t _officially_ announced anything yet. She had posted The Instagram photo and neither of them had said anything since, except for two desperately longing songs on the album that they had both poured their souls into. It wasn’t something he was willing to share on Wikipedia yet.

“Don’t be bashful now,” Kimmel started. “Everybody knows Delta is more than the songs.”

“Every band is more than the songs,” Clint replied. “You don’t write a song just for the sake of writing it. You write it and it takes a part of you with it. The songs are _all_ it’s about.”

“But the two of you _are_ together,” Kimmel said. “Natalia, you posted a photo –”

“Oh yes,” Tasha said airily. “A photo is worth a thousand words.”

“It all happened so quickly, so… _suddenly_ , that I think it was kind of obvious, right?” Kimmel looked to the audience and there was more cheering, albeit a little subdued. “Not many people form a duo overnight and release an album in the same breath.”

“We’re not most people,” Tasha said. She glanced at him again, and Clint got the impression that Coulson wasn’t going to be very happy with them by the end of the night. It was his fault for booking Jimmy Kimmel before Jimmy Fallon. Fallon they could work with.

“You’re not denying it,” Kimmel insisted.

Clint tilted his head towards her. “We’re not _confirming_ it, either. It shouldn’t matter.”

“Delta is more than a love story for a paper to sell,” Tasha said with a hint of venom. “Delta is exactly where the two of us needed to go. We couldn’t keep doing what we were doing. _I_ couldn’t keep doing what I was doing. Delta was a lifeline. We grabbed it with both hands and let it pull us to shore.”

There was applause after that, too, but Clint didn’t take his eyes off Tasha and the way she had set her shoulders against the gossip, and he was reminded of the woman that had sat across from Coulson before they played him _Home_ for the first time. Heart on her sleeve, even if those around her couldn’t see it.

Clint could always see it.

dailyclintbarton

> can we talk about how cringe kimmel was idk what phillip was thinking but literally anything would have been better than that shit show like!! okay we ~know~ they’re dating i will DIE on this hill but sis if they aint ready to admit their undying love then let!! them!! be!! n e way i'm tired stream serendipity

#imagine how tired i am #like #its the first interview psot album release and #all anyone caees about AGAIN #is the stupid romance #which im fully invested in btw #clint barton #love of my life #natalia

382 notes

Dip didn’t look up when they reached the field, not that Clint expected her to. Tasha had a bag of the horse’s favourite peppermints and a new beanie with a big pompom on the end of it. When she turned to make sure that he was following her his heart leapt into his throat and beat against his teeth. He almost wanted to cancel the tour and tell her to stay here instead.

“She’s getting fat,” Tasha said. She ran her hand over Dip’s scarred shoulder and across her belly. “You think she’s eating too much?”

“Probably,” Clint replied, leaning against the fence. He laughed as Dip swung her head to nip at Tasha’s beanie and revelled in the peacefulness of it all. “Look, she’s starting to show her true colours.”

“Her eyes,” Tasha cooed, feeding her a peppermint the way Clint had shown her last year: palm flat, fingers together, smile so wide her face might split open. “You wanna help me up?”

Serendipity didn’t mind Tasha. That was perhaps the funniest part of it all, in Clint’s opinion: that his patch-work coloured horse with a mean temper could become as infatuated with her as he was. When Tasha sat on her back it looked a lot like coming home, and maybe Dip knew that, too.

Clint walked beside them as Tasha rode. She had her head tilted back to the sky, sun kissing her pale cheeks from where it peeked out behind pale rose clouds. She bundled her hands in Dip’s mane and he thought of how much loved her. The farm wasn’t on Wikipedia and neither was this, this moment between the two of them in a field with his grumpy horse. Soft sunlight fading as night crept in, crickets chirping like a song they hadn’t written yet.

“Take a picture of me,” Tasha said, leaning forward until her head was resting against Dip’s neck.

Clint wasn’t afraid of capturing this Tasha forever in time anymore. He took the photo and kissed her, and it meant something when she launched herself into his arms and let him carry her home. It meant an awful lot.

Coulson pinned the map on the wall and used tiny flags to mark a route that Clint had only really dreamt of, and it had only been three months since they had released the album but it already felt like a lifetime. Things happened quickly in the music industry or they didn’t happen at all. That was why touring was the only _next step_ they could take.

That, and the album had done well. It had done so well that they were still charting Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for _Endless Stars_ and they didn’t see an end in sight. He had seen so many lyric tattoos on Twitter that it honestly scared him, but Tasha had just laughed and made a new album on her phone to save them to.

“Start in Atlanta,” Coulson said. “And then you can see the route I’ve mapped out will take you to every state. I was hoping to squeeze in the UK.”

“Australia and Asia?” Tasha confirmed. She had a pen and paper to take notes and Clint wasn’t sure if he was supposed to be doing the same thing. “How long is the break between?”

“How long would you like it to be?” Coulson asked.

“Ideally two weeks,” Tasha replied. She poked his knee with her pen until he dragged his eyes away from the map to look at her instead. “What do you think?”

“Two weeks is…” Clint paused, then shrugged one shoulder. “It sounds like enough time. I guess.”

“We might be able to get back to the farm,” Tasha said. “Fly straight from Iowa to Sydney in July. Otherwise we won't be there until the end of the year.”

“Shit,” Clint muttered. December was a lifetime away, longer than he had expected even though it made sense when they had 27 shows scheduled for North America alone. “I’ll have to get Kate to keep an eye on things.”

“MTV Awards are in August, and then the VMA’s in October,” Coulson told them. “It would make my day if you could make it to both, you know that?”

“Can’t make any promises,” Clint said.

“That’s so far away,” Tasha teased.

Coulson sighed. “Children. I'm working with children.”

Clint stared at the map and all of the colourful flags that tracked his life for the next four months and wondered, idly, if there would ever be time for the farm again. Had he ever wanted it to be like this, or had it just happened before he could stop it, before he could slam his foot down on the brake and throw himself from the car? Had he stopped _caring_?

Tasha gave him a look. He tried to paint the smile on his face to be reassuring, but it smudged before he could finish.

The arena was huge and Tasha looked tiny standing in the centre of it. “Can you believe this will be full on Saturday night?”

Clint couldn’t tear his eyes away from her: her, with her unruly red curls, her eyes jade above her cheekbones; her, with small hands that waved to him from afar, her with a smile that told him they shared some big secret no one else would know about. Her, and all of the brilliant bits of her.

Her, in an arena in Atlanta.

Tasha leant back on her elbows, casting her eyes across to the kitchen where Coulson was unpacking takeaway containers. Clint wasn’t that hungry anymore. Planning for the tour had taken his appetite and it was getting too close to midnight now anyway. He felt like he was stuck between two things he wanted and he wasn’t sure which one was most important anymore.

“Do you think we should tour?” Tasha asked idly.

“Huh?” Clint asked. “What’s up?”

“You don’t seem thrilled by the idea,” she explained, and turned to face him. “You can say no. I just… I just want this to be something that we both want to do. But no one _told_ us we had to so… so it’s okay to say no.”

“What if I don’t know what to do?”

Tasha shrugged. “Will we ever really know what to do? I think it’s a matter of sink or swim. But there’s only so long we can tread water.”

She was right, and he knew that. Touring wasn’t ideal; it was hotel rooms and long nights and spending more time moving than standing still. But there was a thrill to it that he enjoyed, too, a thrill in seeing the way that people reacted to their songs. He had always been in it for the song writing. Travelling the country with Tasha was just an added bonus.

“I guess it’s that fear of failure,” he admitted. “ _Bridge of Clay_ was a terrible idea and I’m still hanging onto it.”

“I liked _Bridge of Clay_ ,” Tasha said softly. “But I have something that might help.”

They reached the local Target just after midnight and he let her lead him to the entertainment section. _Serendipity_ was still in the Top 10 and the deluxe vinyl they had released was sitting beside the CD. Tasha opened the album booklet and wrote a message in Sharpie that she hid from him, hands curled protectively around the case.

“Holy fucking shit balls.”

The girl was young and wearing their new merch. Her eyes remained fixed entirely on his face and he hated that he didn’t know exactly what to do. He had met fans before but not like this, not at midnight in a Target with Tasha wearing his hoodie and him completely caught off guard.

“Selena?” Tasha asked, and the girl raised one shaky hand to her mouth. “Hey, we follow her on Tumblr.”

“We do?” Clint asked.

“You do,” Selena confirmed. She pointed at the CD Tasha was holding and made some kind of gesture that Clint couldn’t decipher. She looked like she might _pass out_. “Are you signing those?”

“Only for you,” Tasha said with a wink. “Just know that your life updates keep us very entertained. I read them to Clint before bed.”

“Because you’re dating,” Selena said weakly. “I know. I was the first to know but now…. Now it’s real. Is this real?”

Clint grinned. “Sure is. What’re you doing here so late?”

“I wanted some peanut butter but we were out, except now I’m not so sure I'm hallucinating.”

“You’re not,” Tasha assured her. She handed Clint the CD and he signed right next to her delicate name, dotting the i and crossing the t. “We just needed some fresh air.”

“Your music saved my life,” Selena blurted, and Clint felt something seize up his heart and stop him from breathing. “ _Lime Cordial_ made me excited again. I thought your story was so inspiring. And ever since you’ve only proved how good people can be.”

“He _is_ pretty good,” Tasha agreed. “We’re lucky to know him, right?”

The three of them took a selfie in the aisle next to _Serendipity_. Tasha’s hand was solid in his.

dailyclintbarton

> no one talk to me

#i ust #i met #no but did i really meet him #them #in a target at midnight #no i can't #im going to bed #clint barton #thank u what the heck #natalia

4361 notes

The phones looked like the Milky Way. It was fitting considering they were about to sing _Endless Stars_ but Clint couldn’t get the note right. He strummed the guitar and tried to slow his racing heart, letting muscle memory take over. Tasha sat beside him on a stool with her hair down and curling around her shoulders. Her smile shone for miles.

It had been three months of touring and they were almost at the end of it all. There were two weeks coming up that weren’t tied to an arena and Clint was itching to get his hands dirty. The songs were good songs, _solid_ songs that he loved performing night after night. He loved this album more than anything else he had ever written. Tasha had convinced him to add _Fringe_ to the setlist but it didn’t feel like it once had.

He looked out at the phones, the starry sea of lights that blinded him no matter where he turned. It was all a lot to deal with and yet it was as easy as breathing. The microphone in front of him had become an extension of his body somewhere between Atlanta and wherever they were now. It wasn’t Iowa, but it also wasn’t bad.

He glanced at her and laughed at the absurdity of it all. “You seeing this, Tasha?”

His voice rang out across the arena and back into his earpiece. He closed his eyes and listened to the screams and prayed that Tasha wouldn’t be scowling when he opened them. It was their secret and he had shared it.

“I’m seeing it, hun,” Tasha answered. She covered the mic and laughed with him until the arena faded away and it was just the two of them up there on that stage. She looked beautiful. He played the first chords and she stuck her tongue out at him. “Impatient over here…”

He shrugged. “We can’t keep people waiting, hot stuff. You gonna start tonight?”

Tasha met his eyes over her microphone. Her face was soft and he wanted to kiss her suddenly. Touring had been the right idea in the end, if only for these moments. There were only seven more songs between them and the huge bed in the hotel room. He held his breath and waited.

“ _You sit down next to me as the lights dim down_ … _It tickles your arm, the tulle of my gown._ ”

The crowd echoed the lyrics back to them. He bought his lips to the microphone and sang with her.

are u mad i called u tasha

??

tash

whatre you doing

im not mad

why would i be mad

bc it was our secret

oh

im not mad

you were the first person to call me that

ik

you told me that once

where are u??

where are YOU??

im literally in bed

clint did u text me from the living room

…

maybe

lucky is asleep on me its illegal to move

its illegal for u to leave me here in bed by myself

the show was good tonight huh

the shows always good

you make people cry when you sing

in a good way!!

sometimes i think about it all

like

how lucky we are

i know

i love you

i love you too dummy

when we go home

back to the farm i mean

theres someone i want you to meet

Pepper gave Clint a pointed look over the top of her camera. “When Coulson said you could be difficult I didn’t think he actually meant it.”

“He said I was difficult?”

From beside him Tasha snorted. They were a day away from getting in the car and driving halfway across the country on a road trip that would lead them to the tour of a lifetime, and somehow Coulson had managed to squeeze one last magazine cover in before they left. Clint could only stare wistfully into the distance for so long before it became tiring.

“He said you didn’t like magazine shoots,” Pepper answered. “I don’t like reading about myself either.”

“I do,” Tasha said. “I’m obsessed with it.”

“Because someone _made_ you obsessed with it. Your image doesn’t define you, Natalia.”

Tasha rolled her eyes. “Whatever, Pep. Can we make this a little more fun?”

Fun entailed a confetti canon that Pepper seemingly pulled from thin air and a lot of cotton candy. Clint let the sugar dissolve on his tongue at the same moment that Tasha pulled him in by the front of his shirt, lips touching his and tasting of heaven. Pepper took one photo and he wondered if it would ever see the light of day. Tasha had confetti in her hair and a smile that shot straight through the centre of him.

The shoot wasn’t so bad, in the end. They did have fun at Pepper’s expense and left a mess behind that he felt guilty about as they were chauffeured back to his apartment. She had assured them that she had a team for that kind of thing, and he supposed that she wouldn’t lie about that. Rumour had it that she was pegged to take home the Sony World Photography Award.

“I’m excited about tomorrow,” Tasha said. She pulled herself up onto the counter and kicked her legs back and forth. “I’m excited about a lot of things, actually.”

“So am I,” Clint said, and meant it. “For a while I was worried because I thought that it would change too much.”

“You don’t have to worry about me leaving, Clint.”

He sighed. “I know. Everyone else… everyone else kinda has, though.”

Tasha held her arms out to him and he stepped into her embrace. She was warm and light and everything he had hoped for. He rested his head over her heart and listened to the steady thump, a beat he knew like the back of his hand.

“I’m not everyone else,” she murmured. “I’m Tasha freaking Romanoff. And you’re Clint freaking Barton, and together we make one hell of a team.”

“Who would’ve thought?” he asked against her collarbone.

“Not me,” she laughed. “Not in a million years.”

**honey for soty** @nataliabbby

i mean what did we expect after she let herself go with him like the class just inst there anymore

> **E! News** @enews
> 
> Body Mayhem! Natalia Packs on the Pounds Ahead of Delta Tour. e.onli.ne/924oq7

**cheree** @romanoffsbarton

tw// body image

-

wILL they JUST LEAVE DELTA ALONE LITERALLY WHAT IS THEIR OBSESSION WITH THEM WHO CARES IF NATALIA GAINED WEIGHT GOOD FOR HER SHE LOOKS GREAT

> **E! News** @enews
> 
> Body Mayhem! Natalia Packs on the Pounds Ahead of Delta Tour. e.onli.ne/924oq7

He didn’t read the article. The article was apparently good, according to Coulson and Pepper and even Tasha when she came out of hiding for five seconds. They picked up a copy in Pasadena on their third stop for the tour and then the comments came in, hot and fast and sticky like a mudslide.

The article was about _Serendipity_ and the twelve songs they had bundled up like newborns and shown to the world. The comments were about the image of him and Tasha, the two of them side by side with cotton candy fingers. It wasn’t about the music, in the end, and that was what made him mad most of all. That they could release a song like _Growing Years_ and not have anyone understand the subtly of it all.

“How you feeling?” he asked before they left the dressing room in Seattle.

“Not that great,” Tasha admitted. “It’s been a while since people have said mean things about me.”

Coulson was one phone call away from getting E! News to pull their article and issue a formal apology, and if Clint were a betting man he would _not_ be betting against Coulson. The man could silence a room with one raised eyebrow and a pointed finger.

“I’m sorry,” Clint murmured. “It’s not fair.”

“No,” she agreed. “It’s not. But it’s not the end of the world and I won't let them take this from me.”

“What’s this?”

“This,” she said, and kissed him breathless.

Tasha had freckles along her collarbones and down her shoulders, and when she shimmied out of her jeans Clint thought he might lose control right then and there. He kissed her until her lips were swollen and red and when she undid his belt he sunk his teeth into the soft skin of her neck and listened to her moan.

They had half an hour and it felt like no time and all the time in the world. Clint pushed into her and she wrapped her legs around his waist, lips never leaving his. It felt a lot like old times, like sneaking into his apartment and fucking against the closed bedroom door.

“God,” she panted. “Clint, _god_ , don’t stop –”

Tasha was fireworks, soft touches, hot and heavy and her laugh against his shoulder. Tasha was The One, as tooth achingly sweet as it was. He had written _April, Her_ with her face behind his eyelids.

The rest, he assumed, would be history.

dailyclintbarton

> “I think there’s a double standard for women in this industry, and it’s not okay anymore. [We] deal with so much shit and it’s so tiring. I just want to write music like everyone else and not have the state of my hair be a hot topic of discussion. I don’t know if [I’ll] ever get to that point, though.”
> 
>   * Natalia for Vogue, 2018
> 


#bringing this back #those articles weren’t okay so #natalia defence club assemble #also hi to the girl on twitter who ripped into enews #i see u cheree #natalia #

287 notes

when we go home

back to the farm i mean

theres someone i want you to meet

okay

Kate had a torch in one hand and a chicken in the other when they finally pulled into the farm. It was late July and Tasha had a cold that had forced them to re-schedule Australia and Asia, and heading off the grid seemed like the best way to deal with the likely fallout. Clint had never introduced Kate to anyone before. The farm had always been theirs before it was Tasha’s, too.

“Your horse had a foal,” Kate said, straight-faced. “I have no idea how that happened.”

Clint blinked. “Uh, this is Tash. Tash, Kate.”

“Hi,” Natasha croaked. Her voice sounded like she had gargled razors and she was technically supposed to be on bed rest before her mild case of pneumonia became a far worse case of pneumonia. “I want to see.”

Kate led them down to the field, torch swinging across the grass. Dip had her ears back when they finally found her and the gangly foal that was apparently hers. His coat was chestnut and the white mark on his face made his eyes look huge, and it was perhaps the ugliest horse Clint had ever seen in his life.

“Arrow,” Tasha whispered. “Let’s call him Arrow.”

Kate grinned. “I like her. I can show you some real arrows if you want?”

“She’s supposed to be resting,” Clint said. “This is what happens when you don’t cancel a show for a thunderstorm.”

“You didn’t get sick,” Tasha protested. She sneezed and the foal skittered away, long legs carrying him back to the safety of Dip and her teeth. “I should probably lie down, though.”

Clint walked behind them as they made their way back to the farm, watching the way that Tasha fit so easily into his life. There were only three people he would die for and Kate was one of them, hands down, and it meant a lot for her to get along with Tasha. Was this family? Was this rag-tag group of people that had somehow fallen into his life people he could actually trust to stay?

He loved them. Kate and Coulson and Tasha. And they _had_ stayed.

That was all he could ask for.

Tasha held the guitar like it was made of glass. Kate sat beside her, the two shoulder to shoulder in the light from the fire with a blanket draped over their legs. The crisp night air wasn't good for her throat but she let him do the singing anyway. She strummed the chords to _East_ and Kate hummed along, off-pitch and a little slow. It sounded nice, though. It sounded like how they had been at the beginning; wobbly and unsure and full of hope. 

They sang _East_ and roasted marshmallows and he listened to Kate and Tasha talk like they had known each other their whole lives. Maybe they had. Maybe this was exactly where they were meant to be.

Clint put the straw in his mouth.

dailyclintbarton

> ppl have been upset that aus/asia was cancelled but rumour has it nat is super sick :(( n e way i hope she feels better soon and until then!! the pic of me and delta in target at midnight, aka the most chaotic energy of 2019

#i still cannot believe #that i met these assholes in a target #2019 has been a wild ride #and i still have a show in asia so :)) #delta #my face #cher this is for u bc u asked so nicely and ik u stalk me

12491 notes

**cheree** @romanoffsbarton

WAIT I KNOW DAILYCLINTBARTON LIKE IVE FOLLOWED HER FOR AGES AND IM SO ENVIOUS but also so happy for her cause she deserves it ✨

> **Natalia updates daily!!** @nataliadaily
> 
> Repost --> A lucky fan on tumblr met Natalia and Clint Barton in her local Target. They were apparently signing CDS for no reason.

August saw them tangled in bed together, the sunlight from the crack in the blinds warming their backs before the day even began. Tasha slept with her toes against his calves and an arm thrown across his chest, snoring through the last of her cold. Kate was downstairs and Lucky was chasing chickens and everything felt like it was exactly where it should be.

They spent the afternoon with Dip and Arrow. Tasha braided flowers into Dip’s mane while Clint tried to figure out exactly _how_ she had gotten into foal in the first place, and then he hoisted her up onto the mare’s back and led her slowly around the field.

“Maybe one day we’ll live here,” Tasha said. “Just us and Lucky. Kate can come and visit.”

“I’d like that,” he said.

They stopped under an elm tree and she sat smiling at him softly, and if he had loved April before then it didn’t compare to how much he loved August now. August was familiar; a warm hand in his, blankets on the couch and a foal with donkey ears. After the last five months of touring it felt a little alien, to be so alone even though they were together.

But August was good. He held onto it with both hands.

[Image Caption: Tasha astride a paint coloured horse, stopped under an elm tree. A rusty coloured foal stands in front of them, mid-shake, and Tasha’s face is lit with laughter. The silhouette of a man can be seen on the grass before the horse.]

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**natalia** resting at home with dip’s new baby

AUGUST 26, 2019

doc gave me the all clear!!

omg!

yes

that’s the best news

i know

light voice exercises but

we can make it to aus in late October

okay

amas are a go then

yea

wanda has this amazing dress picked out already

already??

not too early

no

why??

no reason

do u want to go

yes

well mostly but u know

i hate award shows

its our first one together

as delta

we missed all the others

we only missed mtv bc u were sick

i didnt meant to get fking pneumonia Clint

or lose my voice

whats happening here

im not blaming u for anything

i never said you were

and now i feel like you ARE blaming me for something

tasha

what the fuck

im just

you know how I feel about awards shows

yea well it just

it doesn’t matter

yes it doe

does**

tell me

nothing

its stupid

i just get worried that im not going to be enough for you

tash

or that im going to be TOO much

like that was

that was an overreaction and im sorru

don’t apologise

we’re both tired

we both don’t want to get on that plane tomorrow

but im not

don’t ever think that you’re not enough bc you’re everything

you’re everything tasha

okay??

They won Song of the Year at the AMAs. Coulson had an actual bucket list that he physically crossed off, and then they won Album of the Year and he threw the whole thing in the bin. 

The trophy was the same as all of the other trophies that Clint had, and he held it close to his chest whilst Tasha gave their acceptance speech. Wanda’s dress was strawberry pink and she looked, as always, _fucking ethereal_.

She held his hand the whole time on stage. When they turned to leave she pressed her lips to his and sent the room into a whirlwind.

“What’s that for?” he asked.

“For loving you,” she replied.

**this is a knife** @lolzrey

finally good music is being recognised!! they deserve it

> **E! News** @enews
> 
> Delta Cleans Up at the AMA Awards. e.onli.ne/065ng1

**cheree** @romanoffsbarton

OH MY GODJDSKHRJWD OH MY GODHEKWBDKAEHWHGE WHATDJSJFKWJFM OHGMFGOMGFOFNDMGKDM

> **E! News** @enews
> 
> Delta Cleans Up at the AMA Awards. e.onli.ne/065ng1

They hadn’t sung _April, Her_ live before and Clint knew that Tasha was going to kill him for it. She watched him on the guitar, eyebrows furrowed as she tried to pick the beat, and the ring in his pocket weighed his feet down. He couldn’t move except for his hands, fingers strumming the chords that were ingrained into his soul. He knew the exact moment she realised what was happening.

“Clint?” she asked away from the mic. “We have _Budapest_ next.”

“Some of you may know that it’s Tasha’s birthday soon,” he said. Cheers erupted and when he glanced down he could just make out Selena at the edge of the stage, hand tightly entwined with another girl’s. “Look, here’s the thing about Tasha.”

His feet listened to him and he got off his stool, making his way towards the edge of the stage. He passed his guitar pick to Selena and the girl in a desperate bid to buy time. His palms didn’t usually sweat.

“What’s another birthday?” Tasha joked. She sounded nervous but the crowd still cheered. They would always cheer for her. “This better not be a prank, Barton.”

“The thing about Tasha is that she’s the greatest,” he said in a rush. “She’s the kindest person I know. And she’s been doing this for nearly ten years now and every day she gets better. I’m so lucky to know her and work with her.”

“What about our secret?” she asked softly.

“I call Tasha Tasha because I love her,” Clint said fiercely. “It’s the last night of tour. This is _April, Her_.”

He started singing before Tasha could protest, blocking out the shrieks and sobs from the crowd. Her lower lip wobbled and he couldn’t take his eyes off her. The chorus echoed back to him and he waited to see if she would join him. He _hoped_ that she would join him.

“ _Boy give me all of your crisp mornings_ ,” she began, then pressed her hand against her mouth. He smiled at her and she let the tears fall, and it felt a little like home and a little like something new. “ _Watching you in all your glory, dawning_.”

It didn’t matter that they were standing in front of 19,000 people in the end. They sang _April, Her_ like it was just the two of them in the room and Tasha cried through the whole thing. He didn’t hug her when it was over, even though he wanted to more than anything.

Instead, Clint got down on one knee.

don’t apologise

we’re both tired

we both don’t want to get on that plane tomorrow

but im not

don’t ever think that you’re not enough bc you’re everything

you’re everything tasha

okay??

i love you

okay

okay okay okay

dailyclintbarton

> a timeline of 2019 for old times sake. merry chrysler pals
> 
> 2018:
> 
>   * delta release serendipity in the fall and save music as we know it
>   * then they don’t do anything for the rest of the year like the bITCHES THEY ARE
> 

> 
> 2019:
> 
>   * the grammys are jan but clint bby didn’t go
>   * which fine but also: the two of them would have served!!
>   * kimmel is also in jan (we do not see we do not see)
>   * i, dailyclintbarton, MEET THEM IN A TARGET I N JANUARY FOR N O GOOD REASON
>   * march = tour starts
>   * march also = f*t shaming articles
>   * (but i met a really cute girl so)
>   * june he calls her tasha on stage and we all collectively d word
>   * july and august don’t count bc nat was sick and they had to cancel
>   * then N O T H I N G
>   * until october
>   * clint and nat both attend the amas as… a cOUPLE
>   * OFFICIALLY A COUPLE
>   * and then they made it to aus!! and in november they had the last show of the tour :((
>   * BUT
>   * i met cheree aND THEY SANG APRIL HER
>   * AND
>   * AND
>   * AND HE MCFREAKING PROPOSED
>   * LIE=KE MARRIAGE LIKE ACTIAL MARRIAGE SO
>   * in conclusion: delta destroyed us this year and honestly?? Its what we deserve
>   * bring on grammys 2020 soty we manifest that hoe
> 


#im on crack #what a year #2020 will never top this #clint barton #natalia #CLINTNAT #also um #cheree is my gf so

32961 notes

[Image Caption: Tasha and Clint backstage, Tasha’s cheek pressed against Clint’s chest and his chin resting on her head. Blurred movement at the edge of the photo as people rush around them. Clint’s smile is soft. Tasha’s left hand on his arm, a giant ring sparkling on her fourth finger. They are unbelievably happy.]

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**natalia** i said yes

NOVEMBER 21, 2019


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